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Shohei Ohtani has reached the level of stardom where even the most mundane things he says makes news. So, you could imagine how dialed in Los Angeles Angels fans were when he provided an injury update on his cracked middle fingernail.
“Little hiccups here and there with the finger, but other than that, I'm healthy,” the pitching-hitting extraordinaire told Fox's Ken Rosenthal during the MLB All-Star Game, via Los Angeles Times' Mike DiGiovanna. That is a rather vague medical prognosis, but it does give the public some insight of his ongoing issues.
Ohtani was expected to get the start in T-Mobile Park before taking a break from pitching to recover from a middle finger blister. The unfortunate injury first arose from a cracked finger nail against the Chicago White Sox and gave him trouble against the San Diego Padres.
Mike Trout is already serving a potentially lengthy stint on the injured list and Anthony Rendon is nursing a lower leg injury. Not having Ohtani to pitch every fifth day and prop up an otherwise pedestrian starting rotation is deeply disconcerting for Halos fans. That stress is compounded by the possibility of the 2021 American League MVP signing with another team.
A postseason berth is the best way to prevent that worst-case scenario, but the Angels are quickly falling out of the Wild Card race with a 45-46 record. They probably need Shohei Ohtani to keep defying what is possible in modern baseball in order to have a fighting chance. His finger complicates the franchise's overall mission and could force LA to at least consider trading the Japanese juggernaut at the trade deadline.
That is a dark road that does not need to be explored during the MLB All-Star Game, though. Maybe this fairly positive update can ensure that the Angeles avoid that route altogether.
